In January 2016, the EU requested WTO consultations with Colombia concerning the country’s discriminatory tax and monopoly systems. This followed a series of failed attempts to address the taxation system for imported spirits in Colombia and the market-distorting anti-competitive practices of the spirits monopolies. This has prevented our companies from benefiting from the Free Trade Agreement that entered into force in 2013. This is a clear violation of WTO rules and, as a result, we strongly supported the EU’s decision to take the matter to the WTO.
In March, consultations took place between the Commission and Colombia. Commissioner Malmström received the guarantee that a legislation that will put an end to the discrimination will be approved by the Congress before the end of the Summer. There are still a couple of weeks to go to the final vote, but if Colombia fails once more, we urge the Commission to request a WTO panel without delay.
Colombia is a priority market for the EU spirits industry in Latin America that offers significant potential. It was the largest market in the Andean Community in 2014 (representing more than a third of EU spirit exports to the region) but Peru has taken the lead in 2015 (€52m for Peru and €42m for Colombia), which could be explained in part by the current legal uncertainty.
